
Bonk ,Al% h% 
Copyiight]^?___iVL2_ 

CJ3EXRIGHT DEPOSm 



ARIZONA 

AND OTHER POEMS 



A R I Z O NA 

AND OTHER POEMS 



BY 



ELISE PUMPELLY CABOT 




NEW YORK 

E. P. BUTTON &- COMPANY 

681 FIFTH AVENUE 



Copyright, 1919, 
By E. p. button & COMPANY 



All Rights Reserved 



iibo 20 i9i9 



Printed In the United States of America 



PGI.A561056 



TO T. H. C. 

To thee, whose seasons season each month's start; 

To thee, who bearest all my vagrant ways; 

To thee, who summest up my fill of days. 

Weathering; who for self most prudent art. 

Who sufFerest for me the incautious part; 

To thee, whose confidence all ill allays. 

That diverse thought 'gainst me nor comes nor 

stays, 
I dedicate my unreserved heart. 
Thou art the years I climb the heavens on, 
Sure steps thou makest lead an upward course. 
Thou turnest me away from trammeling Earth, 
And makest me a crown of glory don. 
Hast thou not given me immortal force, 
husband, mothering thy wife's rebirth! 



[v] 



CONTENTS 

Page 
Dedication: Sonnet to T. H. C. . . v 

ARIZONA: 

Part I Arizona i 

Part II Grand Canyon 23 

OTHER POEMS: 

I Look Not At Me, Look At My 

Outlook Round 35 

II There is in Life But One In- 
vestment 36 

III One Asked Me for My Cup; I 

Gave Him Drink 37 

IV I Stood 38 

V Life's Vision 40 

VI We Know^ Not What We Our- 
selves Have 41 

VII O Life, Give Me Back My Natal 

Gleam 42 

VIII Remembrance is Life Foretold . 43 
IX Today is Our Dimmed Speck on 

Life's Proud Horizon Line . . 44 
X Us With Ourselves Harsh Time 

Instills 45 

XI All Me, or Nothing, I Give . . 46 

XII I Throw My Heart Away ... 47 

XIII Like a Leaf I Am Spread . . 48 

XIV The Wind Cries to the Sky . 49 

[vii] 



Page 

XV To T. H. C, Jr so 

XVI To My Sister Pauline ... 51 
XVII I Came Upon a Violet Growing 

Quite Alone 52 

XVIII Rhapsodic Voice, Who Crieth Day 53 
XIX O, August Skies, Where is the 

Voice of Spring? 54 

XX O, Woman from Yonder, Who Art 

Thou? 55 

XXI The Master Sculptor Forms a 

Face to Stay 56 

XXII Life Like a Tree High Reaching 

Eeels the Sky 57 

XXIII Here on the Waters that Roll 

and Roar 58 

XXIV Winter Hushed the Long Brawn 

Coast 59 

LOVE POEMS: 

I O Time Who Carveth Space, Our 

Soul's Design! 63 

II How Strange that Love Forever 

Keeps Apace 64 

III Ever Wilt Thou Be Loved, O, 

Wind-tossed Shore .... 65 

IV O Love, Thou Hast Possession of 

My Being 66 

V The Sea Whirls, Wind Cast, Wild 

and Vast, Unasked .... 6^ 
VI Thou Art a Lover of the Rest- 
less Sea 68 

[viii] 



Pais 
VII I Dare to Hope that Thou Canst 

Ever Strive 69 

VIII Would That I Were the Night 

Thou Gladly Meetest ... 70 
IX Love Me Not For Sake Alone . 71 
X When I Say I Love Thee . . 72 
XI I Find Tomorrow's Sun as Yester- 
day 73 

XII If When Life Presseth Hardest . 74 

XIII Let Not Sweet Slumber Mar 

Thy Sight 75 

XIV Burnt are the Petals of Life as a 

Rose 76 

SONNETS: 

I To My Mother 79 

II To My Father on His Eightieth 

Birthday 80 

III To My Father on His Eighty- 

First Birthday 82 

IV I Would Hold Fast the Lark of 

Poesy 84 

V I Know a Distant Land Reached 

Only By 85 

VI If Sometimes Lofty Wish Were 

Granted Me 87 

VII Be Thou Not Slain By Thine 

Adversity 88 

VIII Can He Who Loves the Perfume 

OF THE Rose 89 

IX I Deem Thee Fair Beyond 

Beloved Day 91 

[ix] 



Page 
X I Sometimes Wish that I a Violet 

Were 92 

XI Unfold Within Mine Arms the 

Depth of Thine 93 

XII Could Substance Fade and Then 

Disintegrate 94 

XIII When Winter Sears the World's 

Once Glowing Face ... 95 

XIV Loved Loveliness Hath Not in 

Ugliness 96 

XV When Thou Art By My Mind No 

Longer Thinks 97 

XVI Thou Knowest Not to Love's 

Serenity 98 

XVII I Fear that Thou Unused to 

Me Wilt Be 99 

XVIII I Almost Fear that Thou Hast 

Given Way 100 

XIX In Thee IS No Insidious Age Taint ioi 

SONNETS IN BLANK VERSE: 

I Hothouse Plants 105 

II Into a Bewildered Sea Life Sent 

a Fleet 107 

HI We All Are Individuals, A Part . 109 

IV A Soulless Cycle no 



[x] 



ARIZONA 
PART I. ARIZONA 




AN above himself looks down up- 
on himself, vast desert sea, self 
encircling self, wild horizon, tor- 
ment sea, seething peak upon peak, writh- 
ing spray, infested sky, eternal tempest. 

Man's life is irrupted with the tragedy 
of self, indelible shadows, ravaged chasms 
of the heart. Man above himself looks 
down upon himself. Soul knows not body ; 
body knows not soul. 



[3] 



II 




^ DRAGON-LIKE Plateau, drag- 
on among a multitude of dragons, 
bareboned reptiles bleaching in 
the sun, Life is a skeleton-land over which 
are hovering reflections, past and future 
fulfillments, clinging raiments of old de- 
sires, spread in full blaze upon the bones 
of the dead. So we return clothed with 
knowledge. 



[4] 



Ill 



^^^S»IANTS have done their utmost 
jl^^^ here, unfathomable wilderness. 
O, depth within, below mortal 
comprehension, doth Nature appoint thy 
semblance here? Proclaimeth she our 
identity strewn upon her mortal sands? 
We ourselves are witness of our deeds, 
calm visage of despair awaiting our own 
fall. 



[5] 




IV 



jONDERFUL night sky flushing 
high above me, darkling sap- 
phire, thou thrustest flaming 
stars, living diamonds — depths gleaming 
through crystal blue! 

Dark heart of fire thou — cravest — me ! 
I cannot reach thee. Thou hast come down. 
Lo, Love's Omnipotence! 



[6] 



C^^^N the heart of the Saguaro forest, 
^1r< ancient tribe, stands a carcass, 
stark and dry, stripped of its green 
mantle, bared of flesh, vulture-eaten, skele- 
ton against the sky, reminding the passer- 
by of eternity and man's short hour. 



[7] 




VI 



NTO the giant saguaro brave birds 
have bored their way to safety. 
High up in the strong-armed 
barbed saguaros they have made their 
nests, invincible ones. Who is safer than 
he who builds his home of thorns'? The 
coward fears the prick of Fate, not he who 
dares all, becoming himself the dreaded 
one: — forever sentinel to those who fear 
him. 



[8] 



VII 

NE moment — Earth is thrilled 
again ; the cup of life glows 
red. The Universe partakes the 

draught thereof. Almighty Nature holds 

us one and all enthralled. 

Love's fire colors once our neutral form, 

to blacken to eternal embers. 




[9] 



vnr 

MNO longer hold myself; wine of 
the air I am. My soul breathes 
unto night a thousand answers to 
the stars. I combine in me with night a , 
full acknowledgment, a sky as vast, a sky 
above — in me. 



[10] 



IX 



fREAT circle, Life's horizon, vast 
rim, mountain peaks, colossal 
Cup, thou art offered to the sky! 
O, quenchless Beyond, thou drawest 
man to thy lips ! 




[11] 



\|^S^^OW wonderful to lie under the 
limig covering of night on the top of 
the world, face to face with the 
universe, — held in the Desert's offering 
hand, confined only by the fingered moun- 
tain peaks ! How wonderful to gaze into 
the eyes of night, to be the gift of Nature 
to the sky, to live one moment beyond one's 
own confine, speaking gratitude to the vast 
sky! 



[12] 



XI 



fe^^l^ AWN ! thou hast every possibility 
Hl^SiM of life! What canst thou not 
reveal to man in thy flaming sky? 
Enough thou sayest, to recreate a world of 
men. Blind are we. How many of us read 
thy words aright? We pass them by, cold 
letters, divining not the fire of eternal life 
behind them burning. Dawn, thy oppor- 
tunity is full ! We, alas, know not the 
meaning of thy gorgeous page. Dazed we 
watch thy letters pale; cold embers, left 
upon the sky; Life's opportunity flicker- 
ing into naught. 

From too little faith no knowledge 
comes. 



[13] 




XII 

LAVA stream once thou wert hot, 
a molten vein, — now thou art 
' cold, — still, — a blackened death. 
Was it Earth's venomous effort to lay 
waste the enfolded land? Did she strive 
to free herself and break her captive bond ? 
Will she arise some day clothed in flame, 
freed of her body here? Earth, thou 
ancient sufferer, art thou immortal too? 



[14] 



XIII 

HE fullness of night's gaze is upon 
me. I am given to the stars. O, 
the power of those eyes ! Nature 

draws me into her farthermost realm; the 

whole heaven absorbs me. 




[15] 



XIV 




ESERT moon ; immersed in thee I 
rise, petty tread of life deserted! 
There is no path for me; my feet 
fly the trackless solace of the heavens, nor 
mark my way; the Universe my expanse, 
with thee great soul of night. 



[16] 




XV 

>REAT rose flaming on the moun- 
tain peak; thy petals one by one, 
falling, fade. Thou art blown; a 
headless stalk, sweet memory of Life's long 
day. 

So we outlive our one moment of 
ecstasy. 



[17] 




XVI 

ALL, white-faced Poppies, your 
leaves and stalks are a mass of 
prickles. O, monsters, big and 
small, ye have taken armored clothing. 
Here is a land where individuals abound. 
They know their rights. They have found 
themselves; — bare souls, each paying with 
his own earnings. Life, for greater life. 



[18] 



XVII 

^^^^ AWN, creator, thou enfoldest — 
jjl^WJW vision of life upon my heart. I 
awake ; my love fills the world. 
Who bringeth light is my magnet. Dawn, 
thou flame ! Urgent explosive of day ! Fire 
of unfailing worth ! Thy flash assures 
hidden clarity. He who loveth, knoweth 
the inner sun ; he see'th Life's blaze. 



[19] 




XVIII 

N amber spire, rising higher and 
higher against purple mountains; 
" the desert vents herself, her fury 
flaring to the sky. We make ourselves 
inventions of evil doings, a fire quickly 
blazed, a little smoke. Evil endures a 
moment's flush, and then — leaves but a 
burnt out shell. 



[20] 



XIX 

^ FLORESCENT desert, butter- 
fly's wing takes its hue from 
thee. Birds dye their feathers 
deep in thy bloom, finding in thee their 
own color. Love finds love in the equiv- 
alent heart. 




[21] 



ARIZONA 
PART II. GRAND CANYON 




XX 

N the heart of Earth I am throb- 
bing, her life stream bearing me 
on. I thrill with her breathing, 
her vitality ! Enshadowed, I am participat- 
ing in the draught of Hell. At the depth 
of Earth's dark pit I am. What a gash 
she hath made ! Black walls enclose me. 
Earth's tormented breast my living tomb. 
Black river of torture, writhing senselessly, 
whirlpool of life, in vain I search thee for 
one moment's rest. Whither goest thou, 
overflow of life? 



[25] 



XXI 

HAVE seen the struggling river 
of the under-world, the incessant 
outpouring of Earth's self. The 

heart of Earth penetrates the sea. 

She knew not why or where she went, a 

vent of self to larger self. 




[26] 



XXII 



HE depth of the canyon is in me, 
I am of it. It is I. Life created 
^ me of her whole. Mine eyes see 
my soul, my soul of the depth of things. 
What I see is what I am, what I see mine. 
I see what my soul bringeth. In darkness 
I am vast. I encompass space. My soul 
createth from magnitude. I am that I am 
— space. I fear not my soul. My soul 
interpreteth life, and to life returneth; for 
it is in the nature of things that what 
one giveth cometh back in full measure. 
The emptied space refilleth with equal 
strength, not like in kind but in degree. 
Life developeth him who giveth life. 



[27] 



XXIII 

j|ari^.jACH peak in the canyon is a dif- 
'1^^^ ferent shade, separate, one of a 
whole. Silence ringeth its utter 
depth of silence. Great is thy voice, O, 
Nature; in one note thou hast endless 
tones, each a color in harmony with the 
whole ! O canyon, Earth's dumb sym- 
phony, thou expressest the glory of silence ; 
thou hast colored indeed thy notes. Look- 
ing on thee, I hear thy fathomless Silence. 



[28] 



XXIV 



HE crescent-shaped horizon out- 
■W?wt lines the canyon, unperturbed. 
Below lies the river, a mighty 
power, writhing to find itself. The crescent 
horizon is unconcerned ; another self below 
consciousness is carving its way to free- 
dom. 

Of many selves and opposites are we. 



[29] 




XXV 

53ERE could one exist on the brink 
of disaster, yet conscious of its 
depth. He who knoweth formeth 
insoluble expenditure; he who avoideth 
sinketh ever deeper into the pit that endeth 
not. Give heed to the voice that calleth, 
lest a day cometh when thou wilt hear no' 
more, when thou findest not. Then shalt 
thou be left as the soul that weareth no 
knowledge and counteth as naught. 



[30] 




way. 



XXVI 

RAPTUROUS Dawn is calling the 
mountains to follow her. One 
moment — and she has gone her 

Death's embers lie, spent sheet 



enshrouding them. The mountains stand 
spectre of their fire. 



[31] 



OTHER POEMS 



Mgig^OOK not at me, look at my outlook 
}Il^(k round, 

Behind, beside, before, far, every- 
where, 
See what I see, be where I've been, and 

dare 
All that I dare, then find what I have 
found. 

Be me; and yet let not myself astound 
Even the me in thee, for I must fare 
Onward to horizons where breadths out- 
wear 
Forgottenness, unwound, refound, high 
bound. 



[35] 



n 



HERE is in life but one invest- 
■^(1% ment, 

Spending! Thou canst not save 

to live. 
Extravagance is Life's security. 



[36] 



Ill 




•^ — ^' 



^NE asked me for my cup; I gave 
him drink. 
My love was strong — my heart I 

gave him drink. 
I knew not God — my heart I gave him 

drink ; 
My heart I gave him drink, I gave him 

drink. 
My cup was empty. God! I — gave — him 

— drink. 
God filled my heart ; God filled my heart, 

my heart. 
God gave me of, God gave me of His 

heart 
To drink. God gave me of, me of, His 

heart. 



[37] 




IV 

STOOD 

By the sea, 
By the plains. 
By the mountains. 

There came 
From the sea, 
From the plains, 
From the mountains 

A wind, 

Salt from the sea, 
Fresh from the plains. 
Soft from the mountains. 

It lifted me 
Back from the sea, 
Away from the plains. 
Up on the mountains. 

I stood on the mountains 
Blown by the winds of time; 
[38] 



I stood there alone 
In a light divine. 

I knelt on my knees 

And I prayed to God. 

I stood on my feet 

And I threw my arms up to God. 

I cried to God 

"Lift me ! Lift me ! Lift me ! 
Take me away from all the evil, 
Keep me ! Keep me ! Keep me !" 

God laid his hand on my head; 

God took my hands and pressed them to 

His lips; 
God filled my soul with the wine of love; 
God gave me love from His lips. 



[39] 




LIFE S VISION 

FROM Christ's writings on the sand 

PON the desert's sands I saw a 

face, 
Christ marked it long ago. 
How well he knew the feature's every 

trace, 
The searching eyes of woe. 
And did he read, as I have read, the heart 
Packed full of many a gem 
Stored sacredly for every man a part 
Could he but grasp of them? 
And surely I have found the key hung 

there. 
Christ gave to Life his breath, 
Into whose eyes he gazed, through which 

and where 
He saw God's smile, not death. 



[40] 



VI 




'E know not what we ourselves 
have. 
We are striving for that per- 
fection 
That we already have. 
For nothing else attracts. 
What we are in our depth 
Attracts us back. 



[41] 



VII 



^ 



LIFE, give me back my natal 

gleam, 
Teach me what I knew not that 
I knew! 



[423 



VIII 



EMEMBRANCE is Life foretold, 
The backward glance the Future 
'sold. 



[43] 



IX 



m 



0-DAY is our dimmed speck on 

Life's proud horizon line; 
I see it with my far questioning 
eye. 

What doth it mean in ages' climb to mine 
and thine 

Accomplishment this brilliant day passed 
by? 

It is the tarnished mark of our indebted- 
ness — 

We are but spent instants without redress. 



[44] 




S with ourselves harsh Time instils, 
His hammer mocks the emptiness. 
Ourselves with self, each second 
fills; 
And silence tolls the hollow years. 



[45] 



XI 



m 



LL me, or nothing, I give ; 

Air that I breathe, or no air ; 

Dust of my treading before, 
Prints of my life as I live ; 
Soul of me searchingly bare; 
All of me, all — even more. 



[46] 



XII 

M THROW my heart away 
As a bird who sings all day 
Giving her song away. 
I cheer the passers by 
And lonely souls who die 
All shrivelled and unfed, 
Just so my heart I spread. 



[47] 



XIII 



^^^^IKE a leaf I am spread 
^I^bII ^^^^ upon a frozen ground. 
While I warm all beneath 
Am I withering on the ground? 



[48] 




XIV 

HE wind cries to the sky, 
"I will ! I will ! I will !" 
And I to thee, yet still, — 



The wind, and even I 



O sky, knowest thou why, 
Why wind and I will, will? 
Is Life more Life to fill ? 
Ah, Love I will, — and die. 



[49] 



XV 



TO T. H. C, JR. 




^HEN I look at thy sweet up- 
turned face, 
Thine eyes true and grave, I 
scarcely trace 
The boy thou art, for in thy glance 
I clearly see as in a trance, 
The man of thee. Thy whole soul's worth 
Lies mellowed, thou wert ripe at birth. 



[50] 



XVI 



TO MY SISTER PAULINE 



m 



HE rosebud faded and died on the 

stalk, 
The rose that was once so fair 

to see, 
To breathe of and love, to crave and to 

kiss. 
O God, thy roses are sweet, sweetened by 

Thee — 
The rosebud faded and died on the stalk, 
The rose that gave me her fill. Did I miss 
A breath of her heart, or a dart of her 

thrill? 
O, the bewildering sips of her honeyed 

lips. 
Fiery sips ! Mine she is still, the stalk 
Of her stark, and her will mine to fulfil. 



[51] 




XVII 

CAME upon a violet growing 

quite alone, 
In a mossy dell, deep down, dark 
as a prisoner's cell ; 
Yet even there the sun peeped through the 

bars of stone 
To search the heart of the hidden one. 

There's ne'er a part 
Of earth too black for Life's reclaim. The 

violet won 
Her triumph crown, the bluest flame of 
the burning sun. 



[52] 




XVIII 

RHAPSODIC voice, who crieth day 
What usherest thou in ecstasy? 
New hope more permanent than 

yesterday ! 
Or breakest thou another heart as they 
Who carve invisibly' Love's wrecking 

way? 
O, throat triumphant, every day 
Will choose the trumpeter, let come what 

may. 
Art thou an omen then who seemest gay, 
Or pilot good, through Dawn to Eve? 

Then pray 
Sweet anchorage for each sad soul astray. 
Relief thou bringest sure. Glad bird, O 

stay. 



[53] 



XIX 




^H^' 



AUGUST Skies, where is the 
voice of Spring? 
' July hath heard the latest bird 
last sing.' 
And June, O, June, how many more to 

thee 
Have called sincerest hearts incessantly ? 

August Skies are ye dumb, or is hope fled ? 
Have ye the will? Burdened fail ye to 

spread 
Glad being afar? O, August Skies wide 

cries 
High silences, await next Spring's replies. 



[54] 



m 



m 



XX 

WOMAN from Yonder, who art 

thou? 
Of world's evolving heights thy 

brow 
"Whose eyes eternal are, Life's star, 
And Heaven's arch thy presence far. 
Magnet impending love thou art, 
The immensity of whole Time's heart. 
Insatiable being thou art all ! 
Created, creating call's call. 

O, Woman from Yonder, near and far, 
Thou flamest ages, star to star. 



[551 



^^sdSSi 



XXI 

HE Master Sculptor forms a face 
to stay, 

Draws Nature's unadulterated 

might, 
Prints of the Master mind, reflected light. 
Slowly he molds immortal lips of clay. 
As silently he pours his heart away. 
His spirit burns in marble, flaming bright, 
Resplendent of the Master's visioned sight. 
Illumined image of the day. 



[56] 



XXII 

pMgt^ IFE like a tree high reaching feels 
uI CsII m the sky; 

Yet underground we nourish 

fruitfulness, 
Ourselves dependents, roots entangling, 

less 
Our making than of circumstance whereby 
We feed our bodies need. Uplooking, 

why? 
Body ascends and soul descends, the stress 
Of each for each. O, yearning one, express 
Thy Earth-tied self in Soul's immensity ! 



C571 



XXIII 



B 



SERE on the waters that roll and 
roar, the sea tide of Life, 
We rise and we float in and out, 
dashed by the spray — call it strife. 
We smother, we choke, baffled for breath, 

our hearts toward the sun. 
Yearning we clutch and we reach up — our 

desire is won — 
Too often we sink drowned in the depths 

in the raging of strife. 
Is it the hand of Fate in our midst drag- 
ging us down? Call it Life. 
Life kills, and Life gives life to her souls 
tossed high on her foam. 



[58] 




XXIV 

[INTER hushed the long brawn 
coast, 
Winter, an eternal drear! 
Flank on flank the ice ranks fell. 
Bearded rocks, dead men to the skies 

upheld, 
Glassy-eyed and open-mouthed 
The sun bedazzling them. 
Along the coast, the iron coast, 
Grim winter sternly stood. 
And the beat of salt froze ghastly white. 
The ocean spray rose — stark! 
Winter clung with permanence — 
A frozen sky, a frozen sea, 
Frozen heart upon the coast of Death. 



[59] 



LOVE POEMS 




3 TIME who carveth space, our 
soul's design ! 
Out of the past thou stealest 
foundation, 
Makest another form where Love returneth 
To find always her own self-lit outline; 
For love with love will ever be redone. 
All poureth back, all that Love, sculptor 
learneth. 



[63] 



II 



■ 



OW strange that Love forever 
keeps apace 
With us. To-day is run its time- 
ly course, 
To-morrow never hath a moment's loss. 
How strange that in this earthly daily race 
Love makes the trace of our immortal face. 
Then thinkest thou Love in haphazard's 

toss 
Is met? Ah, no, Love with infinite force 
Afore appointed comes to find her place! 



[64] 



Ill 

VER wilt thou be loved, O, wind- 
tossed shore, 
Thy sweet will be sea lapped, thy 

lips regained, 
As oft in wild embrace thy heart is 

drained ; 
The clamoring waves now clasp thee as 

before ; 
Thy tide-swept bosom yields, heart craved 

of yore. 
Still mastered of a passion unrestrained. 
Thy form bared to the sea, sun-burned, 

salt-stained. 
Is Nature's own, sea-drenched forever 

more. 



[65] 




IV 



^ LOVE, thou hast possession of 
my being, 
I think no longer ill of any one. 
Could I, I would; but all thought ill 

begun 
Turneth to love. My love possesseth see- 
ing, 
And love denieth every ill, agreeing 
To refill ill with love till ill be don . 
O Love, thou art my will. Immortal sun, 
Thou bringest Faith, a heart of love ill 
freeing ! 



[66] 



HE sea whirls, wind cast, wild and 
■^wt vast, unasked, 



Mournful and glad, bewildered, 

sad, unmasked. 
Every emotion fed and bled, wind led, 
Only the boundless is spread without 

dread. 



[67] 



VI 

HOU art a lover of the restless 
sea; Therein thou art component 
of her heart. 
Hath she not reached herself in equal part 
To thee? Attractions mirror like must be. 
Thou hast in thee the vastness of the free. 




[68] 




VII 

DARE to hope that thou canst 

ever strive 
In thy heart's thought of me. If 
fire could 
Die pale, and shattered, crumble, ashes 

would 
Outlive the leap of flame from which alive 
A murmur breathes revibrant to survive 
Forgetful nothingness. As such I should 
In gratitude bless thee who understood 
Me once, that moment must forever 
thrive. 



[69] 




VIII 

[OULD that I were the night thou 

gladly meetest, 

Night they grateful receiver — 

Dark night thou greetest; 

Into her arms thou fallest, one with night, 

She claimeth all of thee, thou her delight. 

Oh, that I were deep night; to her thou 

leapest 
In full desire, thy lips with hers thou 

keepest. 
With night thou dreamest love, in rap- 
turous sleep. 
And then do thou and she the heavens keep. 



[70] 



K j 

jWTg^^OVE me not for my sake alone, 

'jlk^lw Love me for the sake of nothing "; 

that is known, i 
Love me for thy sake and for my sake, 

and for what thou feelest, ; 

Though all things fail thee, still thou ] 

stealest ', 

The light of the soul. '\ 



[71] 




X 

HEN I say I love thee 
I mean more than love 
bring. 



can 



When I love thee 

I lay at thy feet 

Every atom of the universe. 

Big and small my heart is. 

Little when it contains me alone. 

And vast — when thou and all else consume 

me. 
Therefore, O! My Beloved, with thee 
I am omnipotent. 



[72] 




XI 



FIND to-morrow's sun as yester- 
day; 

To-day is half begun. How shall 
I say 
I found to-morrow done, when yesterday 
Is yet but scarcely won, to-day at play, 
To-morrow not begun"? And yet I may, 
For in thine eye, true one, as yesterday 
I see eternal sun. To-morrow's ray 
More bright the future won, and yesterday 
Fulfills to-day's own sun, so makes to-day 
To-morrow surely won, and yesterday 
To-day and every day a foretold day. 



[73] 




XII 

F when Life presseth hardest, 
And thou afar art farthest 
Even from me, 
Ariseth, keener prying. 
One note, thy heart outcrying 
Thy love for me. 

For all I gave thee, still 

Am giving, now fulfill 

In loving me. 

Since such thy precious longing 

Can never be thy wronging, 

Forgive — then — me. 



[74] 



XIII 

EwgiSdET not sweet slumber mar thy 

Or blur thy memory of me. 
Let through this night thy vision be 
A star — of brilliancy, 
Throwing through blackness beams of 

light 
Upon thy spirit bright. 
Even when Dawn is hov'ring nigh, 
Quivering through the sky, 
Let me then beam on thee. 
Let me thy day-star be 
Tho' faded out of sight 
A flame still burning in thy memory. 



[75] i 

i 




XIV 

URNT are the petals of Life as a 
rose fallen and crumbled to 
dust. 

Blackened the heart of the past is, ashes 
that must 

Forever be sifted, more precious than sun- 
beams that open the budding to- 
morrow. 

Once was a passion completed, — too per- 
fect, the Gods had not broken to 
borrow — 

Blackened the heart of the past is, ashes 
that must 

Forever be sifted. O, loving to-morrow 

The rose of the past is, Life — Eternity's 
dust. 



[76] 



SONNETS 




TO MY MOTHER 

JHAT unimprisoned sun sprite 
stole Night's star 
Bejewelled eyes? What dawn 
beperfumed rose 
Rebiidded lips for Love's dew cup — ^who 

knows *? 
What glistening lily mirrored from afar 
The fiery Phoebus his sun-gashed scar 
Perpetuating Love's relentless throes? 
Who hath assembled these, thy heaven 

glows, 
O Venus, betimes melting Earth's heart 

bar? 
Goddess, thou hast thyself made thyself 

sweet. 
Ever Life stealing from thine ultimate 
Life state, uniting thine intelligences, 
Immortal sparks, thy radiant self complete. 
O heart, a wondrous love thou dost relate, 
Thyself thine heir of beauty's essences. 

[79] 



II 



V 
TO MY FATHER ON HIS EIGHTIETH 

BIRTHDAY 



^^^^ OW summer finds her sweets ac- 
|1k>3JR ceptable, 

And every wind that harshly 
shook her head 
Dies down, and only Love's warm sky 

instead 
Now silently unfolds her breast; the dull 
Winds whispering of Charity, a lull 
In Life's wild storm, the peace of Heaven 

spread 
Upon the quiet heart of earth. Not dead — 
She is creating life insatiable. 
And thus art thou, my father, in thy 

bloom. 
From all thy life thou drawest now more 

life; 
Above thy calm the fragrant rose uplifts, 
And every day some lesser bud gives room 
[80] 



To greater truth. For thee there is no 

strife. 
Life's Regent — thou fulfillest Summer's 

gifts. 



[81] 



Ill 

TO MY FATHER ON HIS EIGHTY-FIRST 
BIRTHDAY 



O thy persistent youth I dedicate 
Thine age, thine eighty-one out- 
reaching years. 
Time who, fulfilled with hope, discarding 

fears, 
Now looks to thee, the Summer of last late 
Spring; such is Life's unfolding of her 

great. 
And every year but adds, to grandeur rears 
Luxuriant foliage. To what then steers 
Thy growth ? Next and next Spring. Life 

doth await. 
In what mysterious awakening art 
Thou found, when honey fills the bud of 

life? 
What sky doth mock the blue of flowers' 

gloss 
That leads thee to thy strength, immortal 

heart? 

[82] 



Thou knowest not when thou art deep in 

strife, 
Then dost thou win, win to toss back 

Life's dross. 



[83] 




IV 



WOULD hold fast the lark of 

poesy, 
Some moments he hath given me 
his wing. 
Above sad Earth we gaily soared, trilling 
Rich cadences with grace notes wild and 

free. 
No sun hath proven stronger brilliancy, 
And never looked so small the little thing 
We call the world. O rhapsodic bird, now 

bring 
Compelling influence to quicken me ! 
Once thy melodious self became my guide. 
Give me thy spirit voice, my soul awaken ! 
Alone I may not reach that realm of thine. 
There is no service I would not with pride 
Perform to meet thy need. Thy will be 

slaken 
Even as thou hast given me Life's wine ! 



[84] 




KNOW a distant land reached 

only by 
A hard, untravelled road, where 

Patience leads 
When Doubt prevails, and Contradiction 

pleads. 
I have been there, not to abide. Yet why ? 
Because my cherished land exists to die, 
And dying, lives again when my soul 

needs. 
I find no guiding foot-prints under weeds 
Quick sprung on my last route. Await 

heart's cry. 
Such land may well be swept by lovlng- 

ness, 
Aye — all men's need. And from the whirl- 
wind of 
Desire, let aspiration wing afar. 
As seedlings sow their seeds blown wide. 

Not less 

[85] 



May Future harvest from the land where 

Love, 
Boundless, vibrates to the farthest star. 



[86] 




VI 



sometimes lofty wish were 
ranted me, 
As spiked mountain spears the 
ever blue, 
And heaven never failed to be true, 
I'd be possessor of serenity 
O'erlooking Life, in Safety, held by thee 
Enswooned forever in sky-sweetened dew. 
Better Life's thorn-pricked soul that striv- 
ing grew 
To royal height of perpetuity. 
If perfect life the unattainable goalless 
Goal, were in itself an attainable quest, 
Then mortals' wishes were mountain 

peaks' full worth 
Attainment; but Life is itself the soulless 
Aiming higher, regrasping, losing, lest 
Too good should spoil. Life is a ceaseless 
birth. 



[87] 



VII 



H^^I^E thou not slain by thine adversity ; 
Harsh winds have ever borne the 
forests' gloom, 
With tattered leaves have scattered silvern 

room 
To be o'erspread with sunbeam tracery. 
Joy must prevail, nor heart can crushed be 
Whilst Nature fills. And budding Life 

will bloom 
From Spring to Spring in the eternal loom, 
As such the hope of Life's ancestral tree. 
In every nook still waits the living seed, 
Faith. Be thou ready, Life cannot escape. 
If mosses hide once lovely lips, again 
Will rise with sweeter kiss another's lead, 
Life's harmony. For such the woods un- 

drape 
Hid beauty to give their eternal grain. 



[88] 



VIII 

K>j^^gy AN he who loves the perfume of 
jw*^^ the rose, 

Who knows Love's perfect petaled 

harmony, 
Exquisite flush from heart to lip, not be 
Diviner of the Spring-tide blush*? He 

knows 
The pulse within Earth's ripening breast 

quick grows. 
He knows the fragrance flowers breathe 

deeply, 
'Neath budding trees' embrace, Life's 

secrecy. 
He knows through every leaf and fern 

Love glows. 
Spring, Spring, O, Spring, thou art Love's 

complete answer ! 
Her promise to herself, fulfillments fill. 
O, Love infallible createst thou 
Posterity, thy promise Life's advancer? 
[89] 



Thou art then Spring, born of immortal 

will, 
Progenitor of Life's continual Now. 



[90] 




IX 



DEEM thee fair beyond beloved 

Day 
Into whose eyes I cannot gaze my 
fill. 
Her too great brilliance doth my sight en- 
thrill 
"With dazzling emptiness. I turn away 
To find a darkness, blank with blank at play ; 
And then I know that she my thought doth 

kill. 
To my dismay I've lost my precious will, 
For she who seemeth fair doth all betray. 
But thou, O midnight flame, art my soul's 

light, 
I cannot get enough of thy dark blue. 
From searching thee, I still must search 

again. 
Endless my quest and endless my soul 

sight. 
O everlasting strength, thine eyes me drew 
To thine own silence, my eternal plane ! 
[91] 




X 



SOMETIMES wish that I a vio- 
let were 
Of deepest blue, the midnight's 
sapphire hue, 
With starred eyes gazing wistfully at you, 
And I spell-bound — Ah! I could no way 

stir — 
Yet gazing ever up, I might incur 
A rapturous glance from you, "My radiant 

blue 
Is all for you." You'd say, "This violet 

grew 
For me, — " grasp me, O, if I a violet were 
You'd place me on your breast, — wear me 

with pride, — 
If I a violet were. I'd be a sweet 
To you, — a sweet beyond compare, — if I 
A violet were. Ah ! Could I but abide 
On your heart, once supremely yours, I'd 

greet 
E'en death, and you'd be my eternity. 
[92] 



B 



XI 

NFOLD within mine arms the 
depth of thine 
Own aromatic breast's wild frag- 

rancy. 
I'll drink in ecstasy thy breath away ; 
Thou be my saturating perfumed wine. 
Press more and more of sweet thy lips on 

mine, 
Cling thou to my insatiate heart I pray, 
Enclasp thy self to me, forever stay, 
Twined closer, even than a twisted vine. 
Give me love heaped on love immeasurable, 
Sparkling, prof usioned love ; unslakened be 
Our thirst, creating ever new a sweet 
Unlimited, that we may deep instil 
Each other's love, revivified and free. 
Our hearts flushed to love's wild immortal 

beat. 



[93] 



XII 

I^^^^OULD substance fade and then 
Pl^^B disintegrate ; 

As distant air quick travels mak- 
ing naught 
Of space ! Could I afar from thee be 

wrought 
Unto thy mind, awake with thee! Could 

Fate 
Assign us each to each! 'Spite ultimate 
Obstacle, let us appear summoned by 

thought. 
Could I remain, as in thy heart once 

brought, 
Thy love, life of thy life insatiate! 
Across Life's broadening deep our whisper- 
ing 
Memories reach, too strong not to subsist, 
Too yearning to be fed, too patient held, 
Until, O Fate again insistent, bring 
Us face to face. Though mortal bars exist 
We shall remeet in Love's fulfilling weld. 
[94] 




XIII 

?HEN Winter sears the world's 
once glowing face 
What hath the future then in 
store for it? 
Could'st thou suppose another Spring 

could sit 
Upon so drear a brow, the dread replace 
Redoubling charms without a single trace 
Of woe bygone? And I alone unlit 
By thee — how could I know thou wer'tenwrit 
Upon my book of fate by Heaven's grace ? 
Thou hast returned, more blessed than the 

rose 
To June's adored cheek, a richer sweet. 
O heart, bewildering from what deep thy 

kiss? 
Hast thou the swerveless strength no 

mortal knows? 
Thou bring'st unflinching life to Life's 

wild beat, 
O lips, avowing everlasting bliss! 
[95] 




XIV 

30VED Loveliness hath not in 
ugliness 
Dissolved all : for Loveliness in 

thee 
Doth dwell. Sweetheartedness will ever be 
The nectar Beauty craves, and Love not 

less 
Thy lovingness. Could summer skies 

express 
Thy kindly eyes, such beaming purity, 
Or Mother's joy in baby's smile? E'en 

see 
Tenderness doth thy loveliness confess. 
Lavishing soul of Loveliness, why grieve? 
White rose of Godliness could not fulfill 
In more sublime a bloom than thou. Then 

leave 
Full memories, dear sweetening heart, until 
Lovingness doth all Loveliness retrieve. 
Thy loveliness become immortal will. 

[96] 




XV 

^HEN Thou art by my mind no 
longer thinks ; 
Like to the shallow pool without 
relation 
To Life I seem to be, nor no sensation 
Of poignant winds upon my surface sinks 
Within. Awake and blank I seem, yet links 
My soul with thine as perfect as creation 
Mating land and sea. Thou bringest 

Love's libation 
Of whose full deep Eternity's lip drinks. 
Think not the quiet surface of my soul 
Denotes a void beneath. Thou couldst not 

know 
Thou, being all, that thou strong one, art 

sun 
Upon my heart's fulfilled brimming whole. 
O, messenger of Nature's bounteous flow 
Thou drawest deep to deep, forever one. 



[97] 



>2 



XVI 

HOU knowest not to Love's seren- 
ity 
^ There comes an unforseen, un- 
called for change. 

O Summer's gilded one, couldst thou 
estrange 

Thyself from thy heart's warmth and 
frigid be 

Before thy nature turned her seasonably 

Grimmed face, a blight thus to arrange 

For thy acceptance in her storage grange? 

Thou art as Life, blown reed of Life, less 
free. 

And thou couldst never know Love's 
Autumn comes 

Thou bloom, with nothing to aspire to! 

O powerful one, thou hast no power as yet ; 

Even thyself against thyself will numb 

Thy love, no matter what thy heart would 
do. 

Unheeded we may call to our sun, set. 
[98] 




XVII 

FEAR that thou, unused to me 

wilt be 
From being all too used. As when 
the sun 
Diverted from his daily sight by one 
Impervious cloud almost forgets to see, 
Whilst unforgiving earth all drenchingly 
Faces blank sky; for her the day is done, 
And her response had only just begun. 
Love, thou could'st ever find more love in 

me. 
Should every day return thee to my side. 
As constant light in pledge with summer's 

eye, 
More brilliant keeping touch with rap- 
turous time 
Than merely day could do. Should'st thou 

abide 
I would excel as flower the bud, nor die 
Perpetually in bloom, as thou, sublime. 

[99] 




XVIII 

ALMOST fear that thou hast 

given way. 
Too much of me, and than a cold 

exchange ! 
Summer, too hot, burnt out her fire day, 
Into the black recesses of Life's grange 
Death's ashes piled recall the urgent past. 
Unrivalled summer can not be forgot, 
Ant' nothing is that can forever last 
Except fulfilling memory, or blot. 
Or blight of winter taking summer's place. 
Winter's enfringement mars the happy 

light 
Of summer's golden gown and smiling 

face. 
Yet Summer gone, cold winter hath a 

right. 
Through Life's persistent voice an echo 

rings 
Forecasting past and future minglings. 

[100] 




XIX 

' N thee is no insidious age taint. 
Thou hast with youth enam 
oured thy warm being, 

With every climate thy proved heart agree- 
ing. 

With each exchange each season's trace 
more faint. 

Thou art Life resolute. Whilst others 
paint 

A broad outlook, thou truly art farseeing. 

And youth in thee continually is feeing 

Age, that he may not thee with him 
acquaint. 

As the one perfect oak stands unmolested 

Dost thou, the forests' best, the greater 
tree. 

And all because of thy magnanimous heart. 

Thy powerful mind desires Life unar- 
rested. 

And generosity outgiveth thee. 

High reaching to wide fulfillment thou art. 

[101] 



SONNETS IN BLANK VERSE 



HOTHOUSE PLANTS 




HEY feel the sun, but do they feel 
the world's 
Heart beat? Or ever breathe the 
pain of love? 



Life's gard'ner rears too many sheltered 
flowers, 

True in safe keeping they abide untouched, 

Perfect hybrids, living protected lives; 

But what know they of aught beyond his 
hand? 

Their petals never feel the urgent bee 

Draw life from their soft unbelieving 
selves 

To well again with knowledge dear, re- 
made; 

Their usefulness once found, could they 
be tame? 

Yet unsuspecting they must fade and die 
[105] 



While knowing naught but their own glass 

house world. 
Not so is it to those who grow up wild, 
They know too well the blood that fills 

their veins. 
They know that they are made for love 

and pain, 
They know that Life is sweet although it 

stings. 



[106] 



II 




NTO a bewildered sea Life sent a 
fleet; 
In mystery she left them founder- 
ing. 
Would they return? Not they, upon Her 

quest. 
Lost in the ocean's mightiness they found 
Themselves; Life's own Truth seeking 

company. 
From horizon to horizon they swiftly sped 
Avoiding most the world's frequented 

routes. 
In confidence was found Life's hidden 

gleam. 
What makes men — men? The ships they 

steer themselves, 
Launched on Life's main, frail unprotected 

crafts 
Battling determinedly their own will's way. 
From port to port forth sailing farther out 
[107] 



Away from narrow straits to open seas 
Where Life rolls large, where Life is filled 
with Life. 



[108] 




Ill 



JE all are Individuals, a part 
Ourselves, and something else, 
We are the breath 
Of mightiness, each one of us of worth. 
We all belong with equal right to God. 
And yet, let one of us but err in the world's 
Accepted code, that one then loses all — 
Aye, personality. From that day on 
He is his crime ; his crime hath swallowed 

him. 
Yet even so he is himself. His soul 
Awaketh him ; he knows the God within. 
What makes one weaken in the chain of 

right ? 
God only knows, and just as sure as men 
Are men, saves individuality. 
Sin unforgiven is by men alone. 



[109] 



A SOULLESS CYCLE 



m 



MOON rose vacant in a world of 

naught, 
A ghostly face to mirror empti- 
ness, 
Our thoughtless selves outlining our own 

fate. 
Forgetful that we live to live again. 
Forgetful that this life is our salvation, 
Forgetful that each moment lives or dies. 
We make of this what we hereafter are. 
O moon, thou art our absolute recorder. 
The nothingness of us thou hast revealed. 
Of naught can aught remain? From earth 

we grow. 
Remolded over — one from one evolving, 
Another moon foretells our emptiness, 
A spectral omen of a wasted life. 

[no] 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




